Catholic Café

When all the Easter candy and decorations are cleared out of stores, many think Easter is over. But, that is not true for the Church. In much the same way we prepare for Easter through the season of Lent, it is appropriate that we realize and take the time to celebrate the entire season of Easter afforded us by the Church.

By recounting the scriptural accounts of the morning of the Resurrection, the state of mind of those involved, and the evidence of the events that occurred, we can rest assured that the Christian faith in a Risen Christ is not only feasible and reasonable, but most assuredly true.

For some folks, this Holy Week is just one of many, many Holy Weeks in a lifetime of Church life. The week may have lost its luster. Perhaps there is a way to reinvest and reinvigorate this, our last week of Lent 2024.

With the recent release of the movie Cabrini by Angel Studios, there has been a very divisive reaction from various sectors and especially among Catholics. Perhaps a review of this film about the life of the first American saint, Frances Xavier Cabrini, will help bridge the divide.

The Fourth Sunday in Lent carries with it a special character even within the desert of the lenten journey. It is a time to start to realize that we are loved by Jesus, and though we move through this season in a spirit of profound repentance, we must have hope.

When we read about Jesus cleansing the Temple of moneychangers we can see how the Lord desires the Church to be first a house of worship. But we also read in Scripture that our bodies are temples as well, temples of the Holy Spirit. So we need to periodically cleanse our own temples to properly prepare ourselves for worship of the Lord.

Some wonder what role temptation plays in the story of salvation and why the First Sunday of Lent focuses us on the Temptation of Jesus in the Desert. We must understand why God allows us to be tempted, and how temptation and spiritual warfare are related so that we can grow closer to God through Jesus during Lent.

Some have declared that how we worship is not so very important, and that apparent extravagance is a misplaced distraction from the truth of the Gospel message. Perhaps, though, there is value in the manner in which our Church gathers to worship and that the Sacred Scriptures can help us see this.

Time flies and it is already time to be thinking about the season of Lent and how we can best prepare ourselves for the Easter Mysteries. Making our Lent matter more will enhance our Easter experience. So, prepping for Lent is the key to a Happy Easter.

For some, there is an apparent contradiction between the Catholic concepts of dying to self and self esteem. Many think it impossible that both can be true goals at once. When you consider the self to be a soul, however, and pursue soul esteem, then dying to self becomes more apparent as a beneficial path of the spiritual life.